There are more problems than we have time to address – and if you can identify where problems are interconnected, thinking holistically, you can shave down the volume of problems.

Here are 3 keys to viewing problems in a holistic way.

1. Learn why what your facing is a problem. This helps to dive deep into the root cause. Too often we take symptoms or surface problems and identify them as the actual cause.

2. Consider the many different types of relationships between the many elements in a complex system.

The problems you face are likely connected to other pieces of the puzzle.

3. The starting point to this discussion is just recognizing that knowledge is limited. If you were to measure all the stuff that would be useful to know, and all of the stuff that you actually know, chances are the first stack would be much taller than the second: the unknown is vast, relative to the known.

However, it’s easy to forget that in our day-to-day lives. We live as if our knowledge were complete or nearly complete, when in fact it’s more like a tiny fraction of the whole. As a consequence, we’re complacent: we think that we understand ourselves and life much better than we actually do, and we’re not bothered by the vast unknown.